Twenty-two UK insurance providers and accident management companies now fully endorse Thatcham’s BSI Kitemark standard.

RBS Insurance (including Direct Line and Churchill) and Norwich Union have also made the PAS125 Kitemark a mandatory requirement for their network of approved repairers.

Norwich Union has given its repairers until August this year to get the Kitemark and RBS has set a deadline of January 1, 2009.

Thirty insurance work providers were sent a survey by Auto Body Projects (ABP) to gauge their support of the Kitemark and to raise any issues they may have.

According to the results, Zenith Insurance said it would not be supporting the Kitemark. Eight did not reply. David Cresswell, ABP Club chairman, told AM that insurers were making the Kitemark mandatory because views on the standard were changing.

He said: “BSI has worked with companies to make it clear that it’s purely about safety.”

Other key insurers who have notified their approved repairer networks of the requirement to achieve the Kitemark by a set date include Esure, Axa, NFU, Provident and Chaucer.

Esure aims to be the first insurer to have the Kitemark in place with all its approved repairers before the end of April.

“Some repairers will get caught out if they leave it too late, but all repairers have been given at least a year’s notice, which is sufficient time,” added Cresswell.

Insurers representing 64% of all motor premiums have made the Kitemark a mandatory requirement.

Other insurers who are supporting the PAS125 standard, but who have not yet made it a requirement, include RSA, Zurich, Allianz, Fortis, Highway and MMA.

The accident management industry has also given the Kitemark the thumbs-up, with WNS, Innovation Motorcare, FMG Support, Elite Incident Management, MVRA, Fleet Accident Repair Group (FARG) and Call 24-7 all giving the Kitemark standard their full support.

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